Headed to Costa Rica...
 

Greetings from Georgia!

After having read many, many posts about Costa Rica on this site...my 74 year old mother and I will be flying to San Jose on Monday, December 10.

What do ya'll think about this??

Should we spend one or two nights in San Jose before taking off for the Peace Lodge and Lost Iguana for two nights each?? In what order should we do this?? Is there a shuttle bus to get to these two lodges and then back to San Jose?

Would we need to spend another night in San Jose before flying back to Atlanta??

Looking forward to hearing from the experts here...Leigh

I'll let others advise regarding your transportation, but if I were you I'd do THREE nights at Arenal--there's just so much to do in that area. Go there first, then finish up at Peace Lodge, saving the most luxurious rooms for last! Peace Lodge is a little over an hour from the airport (depending), so your departure time will dictate the necessity to spend that last night closer in. If your flight isn't before noon, you'd be pretty safe just coming in from Peace Lodge that morning, early.

Hope this helps. You can reverse the two as well, of course, and do PL first. You don't really need 2-3 nights SJO. Just your first or last night might be necessary, depending on flights.

It really depends upon your flight times. I would much rather spend time at the Peace Lodge and Lost Iguana than in San Jose. We hired drivers through our hotels to pick us up and drive us to each destination. From the airport to the Peace Lodge, they charged us $50. I totally agree with shillmac regarding 3 nights at Arenal - there's so much to do there, and you don't want to be rushed.

Wow...I didn't know you actually just take off from the airport to the lodge. That sure sounds a lot better than spending the night in San Jose. Did ya'll book directly with the Lodge online here??

Thank you so much for the replies here. This is a terrific site!! 8-)

Leigh

Oops, I forgot a couple of questions...how much to get to Arenal from the SJO airport? How much to get from Lost Iguana to Peace Lodge??

I'm trying to get an idea of the total cost for the trip since flight tickets are over $600.00 from Atlanta! Of course, I'm sure I waited until the last minute to book which is why the cost is sooooo high!

Leigh

Hi, stl - we did the Peace Lodge and Lost Iguana on separate trips, but to give you an idea of costs, we paid $120 total to go from the airport to the Lost Iguana. We paid $50 to go from the airport to the Peace Lodge. It's really convenient to hire the private drivers. We just e-mailed the hotels and asked them to set it up. When you get off the plane and walk to the front of the airport, there will be someone there holding a sign with your name on it. They'll whisk you off in a nice air-conditioned van. Made our trip pretty easy.

If you want an alternative, there's a service called Interbus that is pretty popular as well.

Regarding prices for transport you'll find that Peace Lodge is pretty well off the Interbus trail so you really do need to hire a private x-fer. As Volcanogirl mentions your best option there would be to arrange directly with Peace Lodge.

Interbus is a good shuttle option to get from SJO to Arenal, but it only leaves in the morning so unless you stay your 1st night near SJO, this wouldn't work for you. We used them and they are very convenient/comfortable/friendly.

You can also take Interbus from Arenal to SJO, and then have Peace Lodge pick you up there, but the combined costs may not make sense to do it this way. I would check with Lost Iquana to get pricing on a direct x-fer to Peace Lodge, and ask Peace Lodge for the same so you can compare prices.

Of course your first and last night's stay are all depending on your flight times.

hvc - there is an afternoon interbus shuttle to Arenal as well, have to look it up but I think it's at 3pm.

I ended up using them from SJO to Arenal and back and wouldn't hesitate to use them again, but as mentioned they do not have a stop at PL so for that I'd hire a private driver or ask your hotel to set it up.

Thanks tully, you're right. I forgot that for some legs Interbus offers more than one p/u or d/o. I think for cities that just have one p/u, it's in the morning.

This might work for you seaturtlelady if you arrive by noon.

Excuse my ignorance...but what is a p/u or d/o???

Arrival time in SJO is 1:45 p.m. and departure time is 6:45 p.m several days later from SJO.

If you had to pick THE two best tours in Arenal, what would they be??

Leigh

pickup and dropoff

Definitely Cano Negro - it's my favorite!
This would be great for your mom because it involves no walking - just riding in a nice boat looking at monkeys, sloths, caimans, and birds.

I'd also go ziplining and go to the hot springs. Ziplining might be hard for you mom if she has bad knees though.

Hi stl,

I agree with VG that the Cano Negro tour is a must-do.

How adventurous is your mom? My mom did the Sky Trek ziplines last year at the age of 67. Once she got past her fear of heights, she had a ball!

We also enjoyed the Hanging Bridges, but be warned that some of the paths are a bit steep. My mom lagged behind on a few of them and had a take a few rest-stops, but she did enjoy the experience and beautiful flora and fauna.

I would also recommend a trip to one of the hot springs which can easily be fit into one of your evenings.

With your flight times, you can avoid staying in San Jose altogether (unless you want to!). You should have time to make it Arenal that first day (or just make the hour long trip to the Peace Lodge if you prefer). And on departure day, you could feasibly travel back to SJO from Arenal in plenty of time to make your flight (once again, its only an hour from the Peace Lodge if you save that for the end of your trip...).

Do you have hotel reservations in the works yet? The Peace Lodge is a small hotel and is very popular. I would contact them sooner rather than later...

P.S. I'm on the Atlantic Coast of Central Florida. I live just a few minutes away from some good turtle nesting beaches! :-)

Hey Sea....
The sunlight afternoons in CR are way short so remember the sun goes down (at least twilight)early. The reason I mention that is that the beauty of CR demands soaking in all you can. That equals early mornings and you really don't want to be on the road after about 4-5pm. Relax at a super little hotel named Las Orquideas Inn in Alajuela, a short 10 mins from the airport ( www.orquideasinn.com ) IF you need to stay the arrival day and the departure day. Enjoy the grounds and the wonderful restaurant on site. Also. would you feel uncomfortable renting a car and driving yourself? We did it the first and every trip after and it is an exciting experience...like driving in most Latin countries is! I like the freedon to go "off road and away from tourists" but that is not for everyone. I agree with the crew about Arenal and 3 days. The little town of La Fortuna is a nice afternoon in and of itself. Walk around and go in to all the side shops. Very safe and warm people. I thrown out a question about the hot springs and certainly Baldi is less expensive and more "local" that Tabacon...if you must go at all. Several of the river "tours" are excellent .... a must and you will love it. Enjoy your initial trip.....you'll go back again, I promise! Between CR and Panama....now THAT is a tough retirement choice for us in 2-4 years!

Whoaaaa...my head is spinning now with all of the wonderful ideas that you folks have given me!! Decisions, decisions.

Hey cmerrell we're neighbors...I live slap dab in the middle of the State of Georgia about 20 miles East of Macon!

Hansboomer...we definitely need to stay in touch. I bought a book
"Retirement in Costa Rica". Gonna put in 2 more years of teaching various areas of biology.

What part of Costa Rica are you thinking about retiring?? Haven't done any research at all on Panama.